Too much to do & Not Enough Time

To my current blog followers & those who may come to my blog in the future....I have had to make a difficult decision.  I currently have a website, this blog & a Facebook page all geared to keeping in touch with friends & clients as I continue down this journey of creating wearable art.  Obviously it takes time to maintain & update these three forums so I had to decide which one to cut out to allow more studio time.  My website has great value because it is a portfolio that jurors & art shows can refer to when deciding whether to invite me or accept me into a show.  My website also allows my followers to go to my Upcoming Shows page and see where I will be exhibiting next.

Although my blog allows me to reach out, in many ways it is redundant to my Facebook page.  Furthermore, my Facebook page actually allows me to reach more people, is easier to update & allows more interaction with friends & followers.

So I have made the decision to stop updating my blog.  I know not everyone uses Facebook but if you do, I really hope you will go to my page & Like my page so you can see updates as I post them.  To connect with me on Facebook, copy and paste the link below into your browser then all you have to do is click on the Like button. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Debbie-Stillman-Jewelry-Artisan/155790374497235


You will be able to post on my Facebook page at any time as well as comment on the posts I do.  I hope to see you there!

New Facebook Page!

Hi All!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful spring.  I'm gearing up for my next show which is May 18-19th in Historic Downtown Cocoa Village and then will only being done one show a month until October which means lots of studio time....my favorite place to be.

I just revived my Facebook page so I hope you will go there and "Like" my page.  Between my blog & Facebook, I am hoping to keep closer contact and give updates to all.  If you do have Facebook, just click on "Find Friends" and then at the top enter Debbie Stillman, Jewelry Artisan.  Select me and then click on the LIKE button to the right of my profile picture.

Till next time!

Costa Rica Gems

I bought these beautiful semi-precious gemstones (Tiger Eye, Blue Agate, Imperial Serpentine, Sodalite, Sea Bean to name a few) in Costa Rica and will use wire wrapping to create pendants from them.  Will post some finished pieces soon!

So much Inspiration

Jim and I are spending 10 days in beautiful Costa Rica with my mom & dad and am so glad I brought my  sketch book with me.  The Royal Palms here don't even look real & the foliage is amazing.  Below are some pictures I have taken that I will use to create new pieces.  I also sketched the Royal palm that is right off our balcony and that will become one of my pieces for my Living in Paradise collection.  Part of me wants to stay here for months & the other is anxious to get home to my studio.  What a great dilemma to be in!

Another Marvel of Mythology is Coming Soon!

I created this drawing while we were traveling to the art show in Fort Myers.  (Now that we have things packed so I can ride in the motorhome with Jim instead of me driving the truck & trailer I can actually get work done :-)

Although my first dragon will always be special, I am even more excited about this one.  In addition to sculpting in .999 Fine Silver, I am going to experiment with some different techniques for detail and I will be using quite a bit of 22K gold.  I just purchased a 10mm genuine Moonstone so that will be what the Dragon is holding.  Dragon's are seen holding crystals or stone because of their magical powers. But alas, my precious Dragon will have to wait a while longer to come to life because we are going out of town this weekend for 10 days.  But when we get back, you can bet the first thing I start on will be this project!

Icky Blobs of Paint & A Gigantic Blob of Tenancity

A warning to my readers.  If you want to read the WHOLE story, start at the bottom.  Or you could always print a copy and use it for your bed time reading tonight.  Ha!  Either way, I hope you'll get a few chuckles out of this story.


 WEDNESDAY - 7:00 AM - The piece is DONE!!!  I won't even try to write about the fiasco and all the things that went wrong all day yesterday trying to finish this piece.  But just to give you a hint, Jim told me this morning "you are married to that piece".  And when it came time to name it I was using names like "Pelican Poo Poo", "This Pelican is a Turd", and even a few worse than that.

It was like this piece just did not want to be.  I did research this morning to come up with something nicer in a name than the above and found the perfect name "Pitney Pelican".  Pitney is an Old English name for "Island of the Stubborn".  Of course when I went to lay him on the table for Jim to take a picture I couldn't find him!  Jim & I both looked for 10 minutes before I found him hiding amongst some of my tools.

This will be a lucky charm for whoever gets this piece.  It will help them be strong, persistent & stubborn and endure anything that comes their way!

Even though the first etching was not a success standing alone because there was too much detail, it made a beautiful backplate for a butterfly I had sculpted in Fine Silver.  In Art, everything has value even if it didn't end as it was originally envisioned.










 

MONDAY - 4:00 PM - Yea!  Success!  And it makes me smile to know that I did my own drawing that is now etched in a piece of sterling silver.  Now to figure out how I want this to be a pendant.  Many times I have to swirl it around in my mind on what the final piece will look like which could take anywhere from minutes to days to weeks to months.  I'll next update this post with a picture when the piece is ready to go into my gallery for sale.

 

MONDAY - 10:55 AM - Round #2 using 26 gauge sterling rather than 22 gauge and the pelican will mostly be negative space.  Heat setting for 30-45 minutes then into the etching solution for 2 1/2 hours.  Stay tuned for the results!

SUNDAY 5:00 PM - Well, it worked and it didn't work.  The design is perfect but you can only really see it in just the right light even with a patina.  But I do have a use for the piece!  It will make a beautiful backplate for a butterfly I had sculpted from Fine Silver.

As I laid in bed trying to go to sleep last night, I pondered this Pelican project and tried to figure out what went wrong.  I really love this project idea and want to find a way to make it happen.  I realized that if I use a smaller thickness of sterling, leave the piece to etch for 2 1/2 hours instead of 1 1/2 and have more negative space, then maybe it will work.  The problem is I have too much detail so the pelican gets lost.  If I make him solid and the etching deeper, I think it will work.  So guess what I am working on tomorrow?  Yep, you got it!  (Obviously I hate the thought of giving up but that's the stubborn side of me that I got my dear old Dad)

 
SUNDAY 2:20PM - The piece is now sitting in the etching solution and the electrobes are hooked up.  The etching takes 30 minutes -2 hours depending on how deep I want the etching to be.  I'll check it in an hour and in the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and in my studio finishing a St Augustine piece and making some earrings.  Singing (Beach Boys tune) "And she had fun fun fun till stuff gets in the way"

SUNDAY - 12 Noon.  Well, third time wasn't exactly a charm.  The blob happened again - UGH! - but I AM stubborn and love this project so I went a fourth round.  Before I did I looked at the pen and realized there must be something wrong with it (and of course I'm too lazy to drive into Micheals and get another one).  I discovered the problem and managed to finish the drawing with only one blob at the bottom that won't make a difference. Hurray!!  Once again persistence pays off.  Now I will heat set the paint in my food dehydrator and then in an hour or so will set the piece in the etching solution.

Here's the pre-etching piece.  The paint pen acts as a resist so all the areas painted in black will be raised when the etching is done....hopefully.  Don't know the shelf life on the etching chemical which I haven't used in several months so we'll see but as usual, I have HOPE!  Stay tuned....will post an update.

SUNDAY - 10:00 AM  I was all excited to start work on a project I have wanted to do for several weeks and that is etching a Pelican on sterling silver sheet to make a pendant.  I use an acrylic paint pen to do the drawing on the sheet of sterling. I was one stroke away from being done when the paint pen dropped a big blob right in the middle of the pelican. A few curse words later & some acetone, I started over. Almost done a second time & another blob of paint falls on the piece but good news! It landed on the side and I could actually incorporate it into the piece. Sigh of relief. Then just as I'm pulling the pen away & think I'm done, it drops another big blob on the pelican. Screaming, stomping, cursing (and scaring Jim in the process) I walk out into the garage for a breath of air. Now it's soaking in acetone and I'm gonna give it one more try. 

A Chilly show in Florida - Really?

Yes, it's true!  It DOES get cold in Florida.  We are headed out today to do the Sarasota Wildlife Fine Art Festival located between Longboat Key & Sarasota.  The lows are going to be in the 40's & the highs only in the low 60's.  Burrrrr......  To add to that the winds are going to be 14-22 mph which means Wind Chill Factor!!  For the snow birds this will be "summer" weather and there are plenty of snow birds in the show area.  For me, I'm just happy that last week I bought a pair of fur lined boots & fleece gloves and pulled out my wooly hat from the top of my closet.

As for the show, this is their first year and a very worthy cause to raise funds for their wildlife sanctuary.   For more info, here is the link to their website:  http://www.sarasotawildlifefest.com

For me, I am very excited to be a part of something new and I created some recent pieces (pics below) around the theme of wildlife.  If any of you decide to come & check out the show, dress warm and you are welcome to come into my booth to get warm because we will have all the sides down to keep out the wind!

An Addition to my Wonders of the Sea Collection

I have been neglecting my blog but I have a great excuse (at least I think it's a great excuse).....Between doing shows that have had great sales and trying to create more pieces, I just haven't had time to blog.  I'll try to do a better job at blogging but I won't make any promises!

Below is a picture of Item # 4 in my Wonders of the Sea Collection.  In addition to hand sculpting & carving out all the detail in Fine Silver by hand, I layered 22K gold in the recesses of the Sea turtles back, the coral & the star fish.  I have used 22K gold before but it was the kind that required a second firing in the Kiln.  This kind, called PMC Gold, can be fired at the same time as the silver which is obviously much easier.

I did have to say bye bye to this beautiful piece this past Sunday as he went to his new home with a wonderful person named Carol.  I know he will be taken good care of and appreciated as much as I would.

This morning I put a piece in the Kiln that I am donating to a charitable organization for their silent auction.  It is a sun setting (22K gold) with clouds, a palm tree on the beach, some ocean & a pelican flying in the sky.  Will post a pic as soon as that piece is done.

I'm now working on a sculpted Blue Heron & a piercing of two sea horses entwined in coral.  Till next time!

A new Collection is Born

While traveling to a show in Coquina Beach earlier this month, I had a thought of how cool it would be to sculpt a dragon using PMC.  I wanted a dragon that looked friendly, not mean or nasty.  According to my research, Chinese Dragons are friendly, smart, helpful, protective and all others are cunning, mean, egotistical so my dragon is definitely a Chinese Dragon. While hubby was driving I pulled out my sketch pad and was rewarded with a dragon that I would want to call a friend.

As I was sketching my dragon I thought it would be cool to do a collection of mystical creatures like more dragons, Fairies, etc.  So here is the first of my collection I am calling "Marvels of Mythology"

I sculpted my dragon in PMC3 Fine Silver and spent many hours carving in the detail.  The "stone" he is holding is covered with 22K gold and I achieved the rest of the color using a patina that was a combination of liver of sulfur & ammonia.  He measures 1.5 inches wide by 1.75 tall.

 Here is my original sketch.  I dreamed of him on 1/12/13 and I finished him on 1/26/13.  What's next?  I see a Fairy in my future.

My Mobile Studio in the middle of Nature

Hubby and I decided that since there was just one week in between the Coquina Beach show & the show in Venice, to stay in a campground rather than driving home and then coming back.  Of course the challenge would be if I could be productive and create pieces without my home studio.  After very careful planning, making many lists, & buying some duplicate tools, I loaded my Kiln, 4 "tool" boxes, my PMC silver & Bronze/Copper clay kits and hoped for the best.

When we pulled into the campsite and saw we had a riverfront site, my fisherman's blood started pumping and I thought to myself the heck with making jewelry.  I'm gonna fish!!  I promptly told my husband to go to WalMart and buy me a fishing rod.  Fortunately he ignored me (after 25 years he has learned when and when not to do that).  I decided to set up my mobile studio and came to my senses and realized what I should be doing.  Luckily, creating my jewelry is as much fun as fishing so I don't feel deprived.  Yesterday I made 6 pairs of earring and right now I have a beautiful pendant and two more pair of earrings in the Kiln.

I couldn't ask for a more beautiful spot to be creating.  The mullet jump now & then, there is a Dove family that coos in the morning, and some amazing Hawks nesting on the other side of the river.  Hubby is doing the cooking, dishes & laundry so I am feeling pretty spoiled at the moment.

The Coquina Beach show was great and one I will definitely plan on doing next year.  Hopefully the Venice show will be just as good.  Now it's time to go back to my mobile work bench and start working on a Seahorse pendant & earrings.  Till next time...

Being where I love to be

I had to include a picture of me in my work space and at work as part of a show application so I decided to share it with my friends.  Ahhhhh, I so very much love all these toys & tools!

Defying Logic

How do I describe the month of November & December.  Stressful?  Exciting?  Stress-free?  Fun?  Challenging?  Unpredictable?  Predictable?  All of those things.

Despite the fact that I had three shows in November and two in December with travel involved, despite the fact that I lost two weeks in December with a root canal gone bad, despite the fact that I lost another week and a half with a nasty cold that popped up the night before a show, despite the fact that we hadn't really cleaned our house for 6 months but we had family coming from Washington State for a week over Thanksgiving, despite the fact that the two BIGGEST holidays over the year occur over 4 very short weeks, despite the fact that I didn't start my Christmas shopping until December 20th & with no idea of what to get anyone, & despite the fact that I was decorating my Christmas tree on Christmas EVE with a cap on my head because I finally had the time to color my hair, this holiday season was one of the better ones in my life.

I asked myself with all of the above, how can that be?  Thanksgiving and Christmas were actually stress free and sooooo much fun....how is that possible?

And then it dawned on me.  Family.  I spent an amazing week with my older son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter over Thanksgiving and I got to celebrate my granddaughter's 16th birthday WITH her.  For Christmas my younger son flew in from Louisiana and despite the fact that he arrived a day late due to flight issues and that I only got 3 days with him, it was wonderful.  Being with my children & grandchild, who live so far away, over the holidays made all that "Murphy's Law Stuff" disappear as if none of it had happened.

I know that 2013 will be a great year because 2012 ended beyond my hopes and better than I could have ever expected.

Fantastic Birthday Gift - Best of Show!!!

I couldn't believe it when I was given the top award at the Winter Garden Art Festival.  There was only 3 awards for the entire show....First, Second & Third.  I never even thought I would get an award since jewelry is not always recognized by judges as art and when they came to present the award I was excited thinking is was third place.  But when they handed me First place I thought I was going to cry because this is the equivalent of Best of Show.  There was so much beautiful art there in pottery, oil paintings, wood working, etc etc.  I will continue to tingle for a long time every time I relive being handed an award like this.

The two judges and myself.

What a pretty ribbon!!!

Tucker - Bull Duram's Great x3 Grandson

At the Historic Cocoa Village show, I had a lovely lady commission me to make a horse pendant for her daughter.  The story behind why she wanted this piece is a wonderful one.  Her daughter rescued "Tucker" who was the famous Bull Durham's many times Great Grandson.  Remember the movie Secretariat.  Apparently when her daughter acquired Tucker, he was close to death because the people who owned him were elderly and could no longer care for him.  Over time her daughter has nursed Tucker back to health and although he still needs to gain another 70 pounds, he now has a loving home.

With a story like that, how could I not take great pleasure in creating this piece.  There were challenges, however.  Because I wanted some 3-D effect (the horse's mane & the grass were individual pieces), I had to take the torch to it 10 times with each time the risk of undoing a previous join or melting the piece a possibility.  But the metalsmithing "angels" were with me the whole time.  Below is a copy of my sketches & planning and then a copy of the finished piece.

I was so happy that Patti said the piece was exactly how she envisioned it and I so hope that her daughter will be pleased with it when she opens it on Christmas day.  Having someone get joy from my work is one of the top pleasures of doing what I do.

What an Honor

I feel very honored to have received First Place in the Jewelry category at the November 2012 Clermont Art Festival.

What an Awesome Weekend

Sorry, no pics.  We were having so much fun that we forgot to take pictures.  The show this past weekend was wonderful!  Weather was perfect, vendor parking was perfect, the campground where we stayed was perfect......ok, so you get the gist......things were perfect!

The crowd attending the show were so pleasant and truly enjoyed the art.  We met some very special people and those interactions were so amazing that I have decided to create a diary to record these relationships that only last moments but when you think of them & remember them they make you smile.  I met an amazing woman who survived breast cancer only to be diagnosed several years later with stage 4 bone cancer but to talk to her and see her you would never know it.  I don't think I have ever met anyone with the kind of attitude, resolve, beauty & energy like she has.  A true inspiration.

If you have never visited Downtown Cocoa Village I highly recommend it. You won't be disappointed!

Kudos to my son Scott

When I first started taking my art to a business level I realized the need to have a logo.  Something that would identify my work like Brighton or Tiffany or IBM (don't I wish!!).  I created my own logo and of course I thought it was so cool and so obvious.  But as time went along and I heard enough of "what is THAT?" when someone would look at my stamped logo, I realized that maybe my attempt at creating this wonderful thing wasn't so good.

So I sweet talked my son Scott into creating a logo for me that was more recognizable and of course, within 5 minutes he had an amazing logo created.  I just received the custom made table covers for my booth and I just have to say THANK YOU again to my talented son for creating something that IS recognizable.

Busy Bee

My Kiln, Torch & I have been very busy spending fun time in my studio getting ready for the show Oct 20-21st in Historic Downtown Cocoa Village.  Here a just a few examples of some of my latest work.

Bronze & Copper Clay set with a Carnelian

Bronze Clay Pendant made from a live Muscadine Leaf

Copper heart that I filled with sea shells & Ice Resin.  I carved the sterling Pelican using a Jeweler's saw

Bronze clay & Magnesite

Copper Clay set with Pink CZ

3 Layers.  Back is sterling, center is textured copper & top is sterling which I created using a jeweler's saw.  Two of the stones are opal and the third is a carnelian

Copper & Sterling

I created these using real Muscadine leaves & Bronze Clay

Nature's Angel

"Nature's Angel"  That's what I think of when I see a butterfly and it's the perfect name for this piece I finished creating yesterday.

How I created this piece:
I created this piece by first using a jeweler's saw to carve out the butterfly from a sheet of 24 gauge sterling silver.  I textured the copper with a rolling mill and then shaped the circle back plate and the bail from a piece of 22 gauge sterling silver.  I took this piece to the soldering torch a total of 4 times so the planning had to be just right.  I soldered the bezel cups last and after all the polishing was done, I set two genuine Opals, two genuine Carnelians, and four genuine turquoise stones.  To create the necklace I used Lampwork beads, Sunstone, Swarovski crystals and sterling silver chain.

How to Recover from a BIG Ooopppss!!

(If you read my previous blog from Saturday, September 8th, the following story will sound familiar) I created a bezel in a specific size for a particular stone that I wanted to make into a ring.  I created the ring shank and soldered it to the bezel.  While checking how the stone would sit in the bezel my fingers fumbled and oh no!!  The beautiful stone hit my tile floor and broke.  I promptly sat my rear on the floor and tried to convince myself it wasn't the end of the world.  My fellow silversmiths will relate to the fact that unless you cut the stones yourself or the bezel was made to an exact standard measurement (such as 10mmx8mm), it is almost impossible to find a stone to fit into a custom sized bezel.

Over the last couple of weeks I have glanced at this beautiful ring with no stone wondering what could I do and then it hit me "Jeweler's Ice Resin!!"  I could put something in the bezel and fill it with resin.  And of course since I love the sea shells I have collected and made things with, it only seemed natural to use some of those.  So I put in freshwater pearls and added a small but unusual sea shell to the top and everything is held in place with wonderful ice resin.

The picture below is the end result and I have to admit I love it!  It is definitely a ring that will get attention because not only is it pretty but it is sooooo unique.